The Last Economic Superpower: The Retreat of Globalization, the End of American Dominance, and What We Can Do October 4, 2010

The Last Economic Superpower
The Retreat of Globalization, the End of American Dominance, and What We Can Do

Author: Joseph P. Quinlan
ISBN: 9780071742832 / 0071742832 
©2011 | 1st Edition | 304 pages | Hardback
Pub Date: NOV-10
Price: US$ 28.00
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In this important new book, well-known Wall Street strategist and expert on international affairs, Joseph P. Quinlan delivers a powerful message about the role that a post-financial collapse United States will play in the global economy as it competes with other global economic powers. How the U.S. reacts to the perilous circumstances it faces could determine the future success of our global economic and political influence, and globalization in general.

According to Joseph P. Quinlan, the global impact of the 2008/2009 economic crisis will be far from temporary. Like the Great Depression, this severe recession is ushering in an entirely new epoch, one in which the free-market ideology that flourished since the days of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher and spawned widespread globalization has been utterly discredited. Quinlan further believes that the United States, with its crippling debt burden, is no longer in a leadership position to set global economic policy, while emerging countries, especially China, are now shaping a new world. He sees the era of U.S. dominance as coming to an end, threatening to bring globalization down with it. Quinlan sets out this provocative view in his new book, Future Imperfect.

In an accessible narrative fashion, he examines a wide array of reactions to the recession, and what he finds is not promising. A shift toward greater financial regulation promises to restrict global financial trade. Present bills in Congress contain “Buy America” provisions and protectionist tariffs have been enacted in countries across the globe. Holding a vast amount of America’s debt, China has become increasingly strident in promoting the virtues of state capitalism. If the U.S. and the West cannot adapt to a world in which they no longer call the shots, the result will be a collection of me-first nations trading within balkanized spheres of influence. In such a world, everyone will be a loser, with no united effort to confront such serious challenges as global climate change, peace in the Middle East, malnourishment in Africa, energy security, and the scarcity of such vital natural resources as water and oil.

Indeed, in Quinlan’s view, such a move away from globalization and towards greater regulation and protectionism would lead to a dangerous hostility between developed and undeveloped nations and among various regional blocs. And the U.S., as the world’s largest economy, top manufacturer of goods, number-one exporter of goods and services, technology leader, and largest recipient of foreign direct investment, would be the biggest loser of all.

Compelling in its logic and grounded thoroughly in facts, Future Imperfect is a wake-up call for all thinkers on the subject of international relations. Quinlan recognizes how we got here, and outlines the crucial adjustments we need to make in order to alter our course and achieve a fully integrated global economy that promotes world-wide economic growth and reduces the risks of wars and cross-border conflicts. Now, more than ever before, America must adapt to succeed in a new world of multiple and competing interests.

About the Author

Joseph P. Quinlan (New York, NY) is Managing Director and the Chief Market Strategist of Bank of America, Global Wealth and Investment Management, in New York. He joined the firm in June 2003 after working as a Senior Global Economist at Morgan Stanley. Quinlan has also worked as Director of Economic Research at Sea-Land Services, a $3 billion global transportation firm. Quinlan started his career with Merrill Lynch Economics.

In addition to his duties at Bank of America, Quinlan is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations, the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University. He is also a Senior Transatlantic Fellow (non-resident) at the German Marshall Fund in Brussels, where his research centers on regional and global trade and investment flows. In late 2006, Quinlan was appointed as a non-resident Fellow on U.S.-Asian Affairs at the Pacific Council on International Policy. In 1998, he was nominated as Eisenhower Fellow and studied China-Taiwan cross-straits relations for a month in Taiwan.

As a Fellow, Quinlan regularly debriefs and advises senior U.S. congressional leaders on global economic/financial affairs on Capitol Hill, and has testified before the European Parliament on transatlantic trade issues. He is a leading expert on global trade and investment flows.

He is the author, co-author, editor or contributor to over a dozen books. He has published over 125 articles on international economics and trade, with publications appearing in such venues as Foreign Affairs, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and Barron’s. He appears regularly on NCBC, PBS, and Bloomberg. He is regularly quoted in various media outlets. He has been profiled twice in Barron’s twice over the past few years.

Quinlan lectures on global finance at New York University, where he has been on the faculty since 1992. He is also an adjunct professor at Fordham University. He has lectured in Europe and Latin America on global affairs and international finance. Other teaching experience include: Distinguished Lecturer at Fordham University, New York; Distinguished Lecturer, Chapman University, Los Angeles; Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida. He has also lectured at the Wharton School of Business and the Thunderbird School of Global Management, Glendale, Arizona.

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